Career advancement in partnership context: The role of homogamy and partners' social support

Abstract

Based upon research on "coupled careers", the partnership is seen as an important context where not only career opportunities but also barriers are generated. Using data from the Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), this article pays particular attention to status homogamy and partners' social support as beneficial aspects of partnerships for career advancement. The analysis of dual-earner couples reveals that men are more likely to move up into high occupational positions when they live in a highly qualified status homogameous partnership where both partners are highly educated and work in similar occupations. This is in line with arguments from social capital theory assuming an exchange of knowledge and understanding between partners especially in homogamous partnerships. Furthermore, the analysis shows that for women partners' social support is of significant importance for gaining a high occupational position: Women are more likely to advance their careers if they report that their partners support their career advancement, and if the partner carries out the higher amount of domestic work. Because in Germany the division of domestic labor is still traditional, with women carrying out the lion's share of domestic work, this "support gap" plays a significant role in explaining the underrepresentation of women in high occupational positions, as the analysis shows.